Germany's tennis jewel causes a sensation

Tennis talent Justin Engel continues to cause a stir at the grass court tournament in Stuttgart.

June 12, 2025

From: dpa/dl

The 17-year-old from Nuremberg surprisingly defeated seventh-seeded American Alex Michelsen 6-4, 6-4 in the round of XNUMX, reaching the quarterfinals of his young career on the ATP Tour for the first time. He had defeated Australian qualifier James Duckworth in the previous round.

Engel will compete in his first professional grass court event at Stuttgart's Weissenhof – and in doing so, he's making tennis history. Since Boris Becker's triumph at Wimbledon 40 years ago, he's the youngest player to reach an ATP quarterfinal on this surface. The German hopeful will now climb further up the rankings from his current position of 281.

Against Michelsen, the world number 35, Engel was surprisingly stable. The Franconian showed no weaknesses on his own serve and didn't face a single break point throughout the entire match. He, in turn, broke his opponent's serve early in both sets. After 1:17 hours of play, the youngster's next coup was complete.